I knew it. I knew it was too good to be true.

Just the other night I was sitting in front of a computer monitor at home, marveling at the unparalleled availability of information on the World Wide Web.

You can find anything there. I mean anything.

We planned a short vacation in the Smokies on the Web. I've shopped for computers, water skis, musical equipment, train tickets and cars on the Web. I track my UPS packages on the Web. I look at Intellicast radar sites on the Web to outguess the talking head weather guy on TV.

I check the value of my very paltry stock portfolio on the Web. I found out how to grow big pumpkins for my mom. I download lyrics and guitar tablature for songs I want to learn.

I download shareware versions of games for the kids. I do research for this column. I look at newspapers from all over the country. It's unbelievable. And all for $14.95 a month.

Somebody once said the Internet is like having a library at your fingertips. That is a massive understatement. It's much better than a library. It is comprehensive. It is all-inclusive. It is completely interconnected. Anybody can look at anything at anytime from any access point.

But no more than a couple weeks ago I told my wife that it would change. I predicted that it would be like satellite television.

Remember when the first satellite dishes were going up?

The people who put them up could see all manner of programming. There were sports channels and movie channels and network programs on there. And it was all free.

Then, slowly but surely, it started to go away. The channels started scrambling their signals. Today, just about the only thing you can see without subscribing is a shopping channel.

That may be the way the Internet is headed.

In the April 28 edition of "Interactive Week" magazine is a troubling story.

The headline blares "UUnet Fees Threaten To Break Up Internet."

The scenario is this.

UUnet Technolgies Inc. is what is known in the Web world as an Internet "backbone." UUnet, MCI Communications Corp. and Sprint Communications Co. are estimated to control 60 percent of Internet traffic through their backbones.

Backbones are fat fiber optic lines capable of carrying huge amounts of data. They are, in effect, what makes possible the interconnectivity of the Internet. Backbones make it possible for smaller Internet service providers (ISPs) to provide World Wide Web access to their customers.

According to Interactive Week, "UUnet has built one of the four largest Internet backbones, with access points in all U.S. states and territories, as well as abroad. It claims more than 50,000 business customers worldwide."

Up until now, UUnet has allowed smaller ISPs to hook on under what are known as "peering agreements." All an ISP had to do to get on a backbone was allow traffic in both directions.

But now, UUnet says they can't do that anymore.

They say that it's not an equal exchange of traffic. They say the smaller ISPs are getting more than they're giving and it has to stop.

UUnet has put 12 ISPs on notice that they're pulling the plug.

If that happens - it's supposed to happen on the 23rd of this month - and if agreements between UUnet and the ISPs can't be hammered out, Internet users will find themselves unable to access some sites on the Web.

Your favorite bookmark could come up with the dreaded File Not Found. The all-inclusive interconnectivity of the Internet will be broken.

Of course the smaller ISPs still will be allowed to access backbones - for a fee. An with many ISPs running at barely break-even status, they simply can't afford to pay.

And if other backbone providers follow UUnet's lead, the face of Internet access will change dramatically.

In fact, a UUnet official predicted that within a few years there will be approximately 100 ISPs in the U.S. There are 3,000 now.

The price of an Internet connection under that scenario would invariably rise.

A quote from the UUnet official in Interactive Week: "The smaller players will either be acquired, go out of business or become value-added resellers. I think that's how the market will go."

Some of the 12 ISPs targeted by UUnet are fighting back. They're asking for government intervention. They say government regulators could enforce interconnection rules on the Internet.

It's interesting to see ISPs scrambling for government regulation because the Internet industry, in general, has mostly been hostile toward regulation.

Some gloom and doom industry insiders are calling the day UUnet pulls the plug, "The day the Internet breaks."

My guess is that everyone still will get a connection, but they'll have to pay, pay, pay.

I knew it was too good to be true. I knew - sooner or later - greed would take over the Internet. [[In-content Ad]]